PASADENA, Calif.—The leaders of college football spends hundreds of thousands of dollars with an elite marketing firm to rebrand the college football postseason.

And came up with College Football Playoff.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby suggested in late January that the name of the four-team playoff could be relatively simple. (AP Photo)

Sporting News has confirmed the name of the new four-team playoff that will begin with the 2014 season. Brett McMurphy of ESPN first reported the name. The BCS conference commissioners announced the name at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to whois.net, a domain registry, CollegeFootballPlayoff.com was created and registered in 2003 by ESPN.

ESPN televises all but two of the current bowl games (Cotton, Sun), and owns a handful of bowl games outright. The Cotton Bowl, according to an industry source, will be named as part of the new playoff rotation later this week and will be televised by ESPN.

The system kicks off in the 2014 season, with the first ever playoff games in FBS football.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby suggested in late January that the name could be something like, The National Championship Playoff Series.

The BCS used Premier Sports Management to rebrand the BCS, and executive director Bill Hancock had hinted all along that the name would be simple. He also said it wouldn't be sponsored, and would feel more like the Masters than an event that was branded by a corporate sponsor.